Hēir’s new single and video, Anyone, basks in a dramatic sense of romance, as the singer, born Patricia Manfield, sings about moving on. Woozy, loved-up bass stabs and vocal samples create a bed for Hēir’s vocals, whose delivery benefits from the degree of space it is afforded in the song’s opening half.
The twisted feel of the production on Anyone gives it a drunk feeling — the edges feel unreliable, shifting upon contact. The effect reflects the song’s subject, a relationship that swallows you up dangerously, forcing you to lose your perspective and sense of direction. Describing the song, Hēir says:
“Anyone is about a toxic love left behind. It's an autobiographical song about falling in love with a narcissist. The kind of love that cancels you, consumes you, kills your self-esteem but always makes you come back because the abuse is familiar. Anyone is the realisation that, in reality, YOU were the added value to your ex, not the other way around. Now he is simply ‘anyone’ while you're finally feel free to love yourself.”
Manfield was born to musician parents in Russia, but moved with them to Italy whilst still young, and followed them around the globe. The influence of her exposure to different cultures and languages comes through in Anyone, and its video:
“Naples as location for the video was a spontaneous choice. I'm writing in English since I was a child living in London. I've always exported my ideas abroad and never the other way around. After years spent abroad, I began to look at Naples with different, enamoured eyes. "Anyone" speaks about a love you want to leave behind, about recovering self-confidence and the awareness of being master of your own destiny. I wanted to translate this awareness by humanising Naples as a real character, as if Naples were telling me ‘do not forget where you come from’.”
Check out Anyone below: